New fish bacteria named after Hong Kong

Hong Kong has earned another accolade, with a new bacteria named after the city.

Streptococcus hongkongensis was discovered when a worker at one of the city's fish stalls cut his thumb on a fish fin.

The 44-year-old man did not seek treatment for his wound, until after a month when the swelling still had not gone down and it was festering. He then went to Queen Mary's Hospital, where doctors removed a tiny piece of fin from his thumb.

Laboratory tests carried out as standard procedure showed this was no ordinary infection.

That was two years ago. Since then investigations by researchers from the University of Hong Kong have uncovered a new strain of bacteria, which now appears to be fairly common among certain marine fish, where it survives on the skin surface of freshly caught specimens.